Yves Saint Laurent's Moroccan Villa on the Block at Christie's
The interiors of the 9,688-square-foot home were designed by Jacques Grange, with landscaping by Madison Cox.
Nicholas Tamarin -- Interior Design, 8/24/2009 12:00:00 AM
Yves Saint Laurent's Villa Mabrouka is known as the House of Luck, but the same label might also apply to Christie's. The international auction house was selected to market the legendary Moroccan estate, and could very well add another bundle to the record $484 million haul it generated at the February auction of the fashion designer's collectables.
Christie's Great Estates, a subsidiary of the art auction house, will handle the sale of the seaside villa for the Marrakech-based real estate firm Majorelle Investissement. Laurent, who died of brain cancer in June 2008 at the age of 71, owned the home with his lifelong partner, famed French industrialist Pierre Bergé.
The Moroccan home represents a collaboration between two of the great French aesthetes of the 20th century: Laurent, who turned pantsuits and safari jackets into haute couture, and Jacques Grange, the only interior designer ever to receive the Légion d'Honneur, France's highest decoration. Perched on a cliff overlooking the coast of the Spanish region of Andalusia and the Strait of Gibraltar, the 9,688-square-foot home rests on nearly two acres of grounds landscaped by Madison Cox, featuring soaring palms, Italian lemon trees and extensive lawns. A heated swimming pool was excavated into the mountain rocks on which the estate stands, while a nearby pavilion was designed by architect Stuart Church.
Villa Mabrouka also boasts two airy master suites with verandas, three guest rooms, a professional kitchen, a bamboo-lined dining room and an English-club-style library. Its Blue and Yellow rooms, furnished in chintz of the same colors, look out on the estate's lush gardens and the Mediterranean Sea.
Previously owned by Sheika Fatima bint Fahd bin Salem Al Sabah of Kuwait, the estate is located in a residential enclave next to the Kasbah, five minutes from downtown Tangier. It was purchased by Laurent and Bergé in 1998.
Expectations are understandably high for the upcoming sale, considering that the three-day February auction of 700-plus works the pair collected over 50 years was the richest private collection ever sold at auction. It also broke records for six artists--Pierre Matisse, Constantin Brancusi, Piet Mondrian, Giorgio de Chirico, Marcel Duchamp and James Ensor--with proceeds from the sale going to two charitable foundations set up by the duo. Christie's also will be holding a second auction of 1,200 artworks collected by the couple in Paris from November 17 to 19.
Images courtesy of Christie's Great Estates.
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